2026 NHL Draft - Tigers Recap
WHL Medicine Hat Tigers

2026 NHL Draft - Tigers Recap

Published on June 27, 2026 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Medicine Hat Tigers News Release


Medicine Hat, AB - The 2026 NHL Draft took place on June 26th and 27th at the Keybank Centre in Buffalo, New York. It was a busy day for Tigers players and fans. Going into the draft, the Tigers led the Western Hockey League with eight players ranked in the NHL Central Scouting's Final Draft Rankings.

Liam Ruck - Round 1, Pick 22 (22nd Overall)

One of the fan-favourite stories of the draft was where the Ruck twins would end up. The first Ruck twin went off the board when the Pittsburgh Penguins selected Liam Ruck with the 22nd overall pick in the first round. Ruck finished second in CHL scoring, four points behind his twin brother, and led all draft eligible players with 45 goals in the 2025-26 season.

"It's not just the talent," Said Penguins GM Kyle Dubas.. "It's the talent plus the enthusiasm and the intelligence and how much he loves playing and contributing to a contending team and playing well in the playoffs for them. So, it was a number of different things that just made him what we felt was a great fit as a Pittsburgh Penguin."

Markus Ruck - Round 2, Pick 7 (39th Overall)

The Ruck family's dreams came true on day two of the 2026 NHL Draft as Markus Ruck was selected to join his brother Liam in Pittsburgh with the 39th overall pick.

Markus was awarded the CHL's Top Scorer Award after posting 108 points in the 2025-26 season. His 87 assists were the sixth most a Tigers player has ever had in a season.

"We put a lot of time into it last week, dealing with the agent, our scouts, management. Once we took Liam at 22, decided to hold and roll the dice and were able to get Markus at 39," Said enguins Vice President of Player Personnel Wes Clark. "I think the reality is we need to keep accruing talented people and acquiring talented people to the organization, and I think we were able to accomplish that with both of them."

The Ruck twins were the first Tigers players drafted to the Pittsburgh Penguins since Lukas Svejkovsky in the 2020 NHL Draft.

Yaroslav Bryzgalov - Round 4, Pick 1 (97th Overall)

Minsk, Belarus native Yaroslav Bryzgalov became the third Tiger off the board as the Vancouver Canucks selected him with the first pick of the fourth round (97th overall).

The 6-foot-4 left winger posted 55 points in 64 games during his rookie campaign with the Tigers. He becomes the first Tiger selected by the Vancouver Canucks since Hunter Shinkaruk in 2013.

Jonas Woo - Round 6, Pick 25 (185th Overall)

After scoring more points than any Tigers blueliner in a single season and leading all WHL defencemen in points, Jonas Woo got the call on draft day. Woo scored 29 goals and 57 assists for 86 points and finished second in the league for plus-minus with a plus-63 rating.

Woo becomes the first Tiger selected to the Columbus Blue Jackets since Cayden Lindstrom in 2024.

Check out the Medicine Hat Tigers Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Western Hockey League Stories from June 27, 2026


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central